You'd scarce expect one of my age
To speak in public on the stage;
And if I read more

You'd scarce expect one of my age
To speak in public on the stage;
And if I chance to fall below
Demosthenes or Cicero,
Don't view me with a critic's eye,
But pass my imperfections by.
Large streams from little fountains flow,
Tall oaks from little acorns grow.

It makes a great difference whether Davus or a hero speaks.
[Lat., Intererit multum Davusne loquatur an heros.]

It makes a great difference whether Davus or a hero speaks.
[Lat., Intererit multum Davusne loquatur an heros.]

The Orator persuades and carries all with him, he knows not how;
the Rhetorician can prove that he ought read more

The Orator persuades and carries all with him, he knows not how;
the Rhetorician can prove that he ought to have persuaded and
carried all with him.

Solon wished everybody to be ready to take everybody else's part;
but surely Chilo was wiser in holding that read more

Solon wished everybody to be ready to take everybody else's part;
but surely Chilo was wiser in holding that public affairs go best
when the laws have much attention and the orators none.

Its Constitution--the glittering and sounding generalities of
natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.

Its Constitution--the glittering and sounding generalities of
natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.

For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope.

For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope.

Besides, as is usually the case, we are much more affected by the
words which we hear, for though read more

Besides, as is usually the case, we are much more affected by the
words which we hear, for though what you read in books may be
more pointed, yet there is something in the voice, the look, the
carriage, and even the gesture of the speaker, that makes a
deeper impression upon the mind.
[Lat., Praeterea multo magis, ut vulgo dicitur viva vox afficit:
nam licet acriora sint, quae legas, ultius tamen in ammo sedent,
quae pronuntiatio, vultus, habitus, gestus dicentis adfigit.]

He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.

He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.

When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he
answered, "Action," and which was the second, read more

When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he
answered, "Action," and which was the second, he replied,
"action," and which was the third, he still answered "Action."